Monday, August 12, 2013

preparation

Took
the last grandkiddo home yesterday after the reprise visits and now
school starts for them in two weeks and I leave in a week for my
residency/retreat. This week I am going to start packing and work on
my presentation.

The
very first thing I'm going to pack is earplugs since we won't have
private rooms at the center. I may have as many as three sleeping
companions. I plan to bring extras for those of the attendees who
haven't thought this through to it's logical conclusion.

We
are dead in the middle of the dog days of summer here. Except for a
brief, albeit heavy, rainstorm yesterday, it's been a month since we
had any rain at all. For three days last week we had a 15 – 20 mph
hot dry wind out of the south desiccating everything. I spent the
next two days after it died down letting the hose run under the
altheas, azaleas, roses, and other assorted shruberies.

The
small maple that we had cut down because it was dying, dropping
branches, and the core was rotten and full of ants is not convinced
it is dead. It had put up half a dozen new starts of growth with
pretty green leaves.

This
morning a juvenile mississippi kite was sitting in the tree tops
calling kikeeeee.

In
spite of the hot weather, life still goes on. The water lily pond
has a resident frog and the pond and the natural water filter are
both full of tadpoles.

Big
Mama thinks she is starving, starving I tell you! Feed me, feed
me. And woe be to any of the
goldfish that tries to snatch a morsel intended for her. She will
chase that little fucker all over her pond until I can distract her
with another bite.

The
baby anoles are hatching left and right. They love the long daylily
bed where the occasional scape is still getting sent up.

Other
things are blooming too. The plumerias have been blooming all
summer. The altheas, after their major show in early summer, are
still putting on scattered flowers and the star of india continues
putting on it's small gardenia-like blooms. The morning glory bush
is starting to flower and the zinnias are undeterred. The yellow
bells too though I don't see them so much as they are in the front
yard.

I've
been working on my presentation today at the same time I have been
working on this blog post. They are sort of intertwined. So
alright, I thought, I've got a whole page. Hmmmm, how many words is
a 10 – 12 minute talk...consult the All Knowing Oracle...a 5 minute
talk is about 600 words...do a word count...584. Damn. I need twice
as much.

11 comments:

you've been cooler than we were. today at 99 was the first day in a week we've not been over 100 - most days were 102-105. and dry. our nearby 'town' got dumped on rain last night. we got zero. i was watching the clouds on intellicast like a watched pot and i guess i jinxed it. :)

Loving all of your photos! HAHAHA you said "little fucker" you are a gal after my heart- Big Mama is in charge! Hope your workshop thing is glorious. I buy a gross of ear plugs at a time- Dexter snores tremendously!

You're such a smart one....earplugs. Great necessity, I'll wager.The photos of the flora and fauna are great, love your pond and Mama Turtle. I'm sure that you will not have to talk slow...but will deliver a great talk. As my SM says just give um what they want to hear. Oma Linda